This week for the Fiction Friday feature, I am reviewing the psychological thriller novel, Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King. This book was published in November 1992 by Viking and has a page count of 305 pages. The audiobook is 9 hours & 15 minutes in length and is narrated by Frances Sternhagen. The following overview is provided from the B&N page: When Vera Donovan, one of the wealthiest and most ill-natured residents of Maine’s Little Tall Island, dies suddenly in her home, suspicion is immediately cast on her housekeeper and caretaker, Dolores Claiborne. Dolores herself is no stranger to such mistrust, thanks to the local chatter and mysterious circumstances surrounding her abusive husband’s death twenty-nine years earlier. But if this is truly to be the day of Dolores Claiborne’s reckoning, she has a few things of her own that she’d like to get off her chest…and begins to confess a spirited, intimate, and harrowing tale of the darkest secrets hidden within her hardscrabble existence, revealing above all one woman’s unwavering determination to weather the storm of her life with grace and protect the one she loves, no matter what the cost…
I under-appreciated this novel when I first finished it. The longer I had to reflect on the novel the more I liked it. It was different from the other King books I had consumed up to this point. And I think that was the part that I couldn’t get past for a little bit. However, I don’t think that there would have been a better way to tell this story. There is something about hearing the story of an event from this perspective that has a haunting quality. Don’t get me wrong, most King novels I can recall better than others that I have read. This book would pop up in the back of my mind when I would be watching something. Something about what I was watching on the screen would remind me of the narration style of this work. The story is what I would expect from a King novel at this point in his career. This something magical about this book. I think this is a King novel that I would recommend to anyone who wants to read a King novel. This book shows off King’s incredible storytelling skills without the horror aspect. Highly recommend this novel.
I give this novel 4 out of 5 stars.
Tomorrow for the Missing Perso Saturday feature, I am highlighting the missing person’s case of Daniel Y. Kwon. Next week for the Fiction Friday feature, I am reviewing the young adult horror novel, Killers of the Dawn by Darren Shan. Until then keep reading on; Nerd out!
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